Process for the production of fibrous products



Patented Feb. 8, 1944 PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FIBROUS PRODUCTS Walter Picker, Dusseldorf, Germany, assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio No Drawing.

Application June 19, 1940, Serial No. 341,321. In Germany July 17, 1939 3 Claims.

The blubber of whales and similar marine mammals contains, besides water, about to per cent of collagen fibers and 20 to 30 per cent of oil. The tail-fiukes of the whale, the sinews, and the intermediate layer between blubber and flesh also contain these collagenfibers, to a certain extent in still larger quantity.

These collagen fibres can be recovered by disintegrating these parts of the body by means of a suitable device to such an extent that the individual fibers of the tissues are exposed and no longer retain connection with one another. The slurry of Whale oil, tissue fluid, and fibers obtained in this way, which is still composed of the original quantities of the initial material, may be diluted, if necessary, with fresh water and/or sea water, and is then pumped to the oil extraction equipment, where the oil is recovered by suitable treatment with, for example, drip screens or drums, centrifuges, presses, and the like. The extraction of oil may be carried out in one stage or in a plurality of stages, whereby the slurry may be thinned again, if desired, with fresh water and/or sea water.

The Water still contained in the fibers is removed, as far as possible, during the last stage of these operations, for example, by thorough centriiuging and/ or pressing.

The cake of fibers produced in this way contains 60 to 65 per cent of water and one to three per cent of oil; and is designated in the present specification as blubber fiber, blubber being the chief initial material, but that term is intended to include also the fibrous mass obtained from the tail-fiukes, sinews, and intermediate skin. The said blubber fiber is no longer free-flowing, but has much the consistency of moist cotton waste. It can be immediately used as raw material for the production of artificial guts and casings, brushes, artificial stuffing and padding and the like similar to horsehair, and so on. If this raw material, however, has been produced on board of a whale factory ship, it must be preserved by some special means for transport to the manufacturing plant where it is to be further processed. Since transport may take several weeks, or even months, and may have to pass through the tropics, special precautions must be taken to ensure that the blubber fiber undergoes no deterioration during the prolonged period of storage at a tropical temperature of C. and more, and by the action of other influences, such as the growth of molds, fermentation, rancidity, oxidation, surface-tanning, discoloration, and so forth. Experiments carried out by the present applicant have shown that the said blubber fiber can be preserved by intimately mixing it, while still moist, with one third of its weight of common salt, and packing it by compression in wooden barrels. After the barrels have been tightly closed, a saturated solution of common salt is poured in through the bung-hole, until practically all the air contained in the barrels has been expelled.

That procedure involves the risk that the barrels may leak, whereby other goods may be damaged by the escaping brine and the said blubber fiber itself may be spoilt by the access of air. Further, the barrels are very bulky and do not admit of utilizing more than about one half of the storage space available in the hold. Besides these drawbacks, pelagic whaling vessels must take the necessary empty barrels for packing the said blubber fiber with them when they leave their home ports, whereby the space available on board is still further greatly restricted.

Other experiments have shown that the said blubber fiber when dried at an elevated temperature loses its fibrous structure owing to the action of the heat applied. When dried by passage of a current of air the material is decomposed by oxidation, forming products that are unsuitable for further processing.

One of the objects of the present invention is to convert the collagen fiber contained in the blubber and other parts of the body of whales and other marine mammals into a dry, stable condition, enabling it to be stored Without risk of decomposition and even to be transported through the tropics.

A further object of the present invention is the preparation of dry collagen fiber from the blubber and other parts of the body of whales and other marine mammals, which fiber upon being again moistened resembles the original fiber and can be utilized for the production of artificial casings and guts, artificial horsehair, brushes, stuffing for cushions and the like, artificial leather, and similar products.

Dolphins and seals are other marine mammals the collagen fibers of which can be recovered by the process of the present invention.

The present inventor has found that the collagen fibers of the blubber and other parts of the body of Whales and other marine mammals undergo a change even at temperatures beginning at about 42 C. which change is outwardly unrecognizable, but may be noticed upon endeavouring to manufacture the said blubber fiber into any of the finished products hereinbefore mentioned; for blubber fiber that has been exposed during any stage of the course of operations to a temperature of more than 42 C. is useless for the production of the finished products referred to. It is for that reason essential never to allow the temperature of the said fiber to rise substantially above 42 C. during the whole course of its processing.

The process for the production of the new fiber consists in drying the moist collagen fibers recovered from the blubber and other parts of the body of whales and other marine mammals, which should contain, while in this condition, not more than 3 per cent of oil, under lower than atmospheric pressure at a temperature of not more than 42 C.

By drying the said blubber fiber at lower than atmospheric pressure and at a temperature of up to about 42 C., it is possible to arrive at any desired degree of moisture content down to about five per cent. In order to obtain a stable fiber, however, it is not necessary to push drying to a moisture content of less than per cent; on the other hand, the moisture content of the dried fibers must not exceed 20 per cent, because there is then still a risk of the formation of molds and of decomposition accompanied by fermentation. It has been found to be most practical to dry the said blubber fiber to a moisture content of from 10 to per cent. dried in that way, swells, when laid in water {or a short time, even after storage for months. It resumes its original suppleness and is perfectly ready for use for the production of the goods hereinbeiore mentioned.

Further, the oil content of the said dry blubber fiber should never be allowed to rise much above 8 per cent, calculated on dry fiber with a moisture content of 10 to 15 per cent, because the said fiber might become partially tanned, thereby rendering it useless, should the oil happen to become rancid. Since the oil content calculated on the quantity of fiber remains unaffected by drying under lower than atmospheric pressure, care must be taken beforehand to centrifuge or press the said blubber fiber, so as to ensure that the oil content of the centrifuged or pressed fiber does not rise above more than about three per cent.

A lower limit for the drying temperature is imposed merely by the rate of drying and by the drying media, such, as steam and vacuum, at disposal. It is quite possible to dry the said blubber fiber at a temperature, for example, of

15 to C.

Drying may be carried out in suitable vacuum dryers of the familiar type, e. g., in vacuum drum dryers.

The fibrous mass, which originally, in the moist state, is of a grayish white color, coherent, and can easily be kneaded, is converted by drying into a pale brown, loose dry substance which can easily be compressed to a bulk weight of 0.5, or to about 0.7 by more vigorous pressure.

The said dry blubber fiber swells up in a short time when laid in water. even after having been stored for several months and reassumes its original suppleness, so that it is once again in every respect ready :or use as described above.

The use of salt according to processes hitherto customary being thus eliminated, the saving efiected comprises the cost of the salt, space for storage of salt on the voyage out, and the cost of the manual labor involved in the salting or the said blubber fiber. There is further no risk of The said fiber, when centrifuge, and a press.

damaging other goods by the escap of brine, should the barrels happen to become leaky.

The said blubber fiber can be packed much more easily and more cheaply by the new method, because no barrels are required, since the dry blubber fiber is to a great extent unaffected by the oxidizing action of the air, so that it can be packed in sacks or baled, or simply stowed in tanks or other containers in bulk without any packing at all and without having to adopt any special precautions. That means a further saving in the cost of the barrels and caulking materials, coopers wages, and so forth, while the storage space hitherto required for the empty barrels is now available for other purposes. Apart from these advantages, the bulky barrels, which are awkward to handle owing to their great weight, are dispensed with and there is no need for troublesome stowage work by having to lash them firmly, and so on.

Another point is that stowage space can now be much better utilized. Hitherto, only about 120 kilos of water-free blubber fiber were contained in the salted moist blubber fiber packed in barrels and stowed in one cubic metre hold space; on the other hand, about 700 kilos of fiber dried according to the present process, still containing about 10 to 15 per cent of water, packed in tanks, which are equivalent to about 600 kilos moisture-free fiber, can be stowed in one cubic metre hold space. That is more than five times as much as could be packed by the old salting process. That fact is of great importance in view of the restricted hold space on board of ocean freighters.

Careful storage tests have shown that there is practically no possibility of spoiling the dry blubber fiber prepared by the present new process owing to atmospheric oxidation, the growth of mold, fermentation, or similar deleterious influences.

The following is an example of the way in which my present invention may be carried into practical efiect, but my invention is not confined to this example.

Example 1,000 kilos whale blubber are comminuted in a disintegrating machine, so that the individual fibers are exposed. The slurry obtained is then pumped to an oil-extracting plant. Should it be too thick for pumping, it can be thinned with fresh water or sea water. The oil extracting equipment comprises a stock container, 2. peeling After standing for some time in the stock container, oil separates out on top and can be drawn ofi separately by an overflow pipe. The slurry is then pumped to the centrifuge, where most of the oil and water is separated ofi. After leaving the centrifuge, the fibrous mass is pressed to free it from a further quantity of water and oil. The cake of blubber fiber leaving the press contains about to 33 per cent of dry fibers and about one to three per cent oil, water making up the rest.

kilos of this blubber fiber are treated in a suitable drying device, such as a vacuum drum dryer, at a pressure of 12 to 15 mm. of mercury, until the moisture content is reduced to about 12 per cent, whereby the temperature of the mass should not rise substantially above 42 C. The originally grayish white, coherent, and readily kneadable fibrous mass is converted by treatment in the way described into a pale brown, loose dry substance which can be compressed to about one half of its original bulk. About 38 kilos of dry fiber are obtained in this way; the product stands storage well and is not liable to oxidize, provided that the whale oil content does not rise about eight per cent.

The dry fiber rapidly swells in water, even after storage for several months, and reassumes its original suppleness.

It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific example hereinbefore given,- but that it extends to all equivalent materials coming within the scope of the terms employed in the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A process for producing dried collagen fibres from blubber and other parts of whales and of jecting the fibrous mass to a sub-atmospheric pressure at a temperature not substantially exceeding 42 C., the said evaporation operation being continued until the moisture content of the collagen fibres product does not exceed 20 per cent by weight.

2. A process for obtaining stable, dried collagen fibres from whale blubber which comprises reducing the oil content of the blubber mass to about 1.3 per cent and the moisture content to about 64.69 per cent of the treated mass, and then evaporating the remaining water to a content of about 12 per cent by subjecting the blubber fibres under sub-atmospheric pressure to a temperature not exceeding 42 0., the final product being a pale brown, loose, substantially dry, fibrous mass.

3. A process for producing stable dried collagen fibers from parts of whale and other marine mammals which comprises reducing the oil content of said collagen fiber-containing parts to an amount equivalent to not substantially more than 8 per cent by weight calculated on the basis of a fiber with a moisture content of 10 to 15 per cent, mechanically forcing out the easily removable water content contained in the said fiber-containing parts and evaporating the remaining water to an extent leaving not more than 20 per cent water by weight by subjecting the obtained partially dried fiber material under subatmospheric pressure to a temperature not exceeding 42 C.

WALTER PICKER.

, CERTIFICATE or CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,514.0,98Lt, February 191m,

WALTER PICKER.

It is he reby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, first column, line 5, for "about" read above; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 18th day of April, A. D. 19%.

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

